Love/Hate actor cried with relief at arrest
Stephen Clinch, who got four years for robbery, was ‘in fear’ as a group of men tackled him to the ground before gardaí arrived
LOVE/HATE actor Stephen Clinch ‘cried like a baby’ and thanked gardaí for arresting him because he was in fear after a group of men tackled him to the ground during his botched armed robbery.
Clinch, 49, who played Noely in the RTÉ hit crime drama, was jailed for four and a half years on Monday after he admitted carrying out a €50,000 armed robbery on May 11, last year.
The former heroin addict held a loaded semi-automatic pistol to the head of a staff worker at the Gate Hotel in Dublin’s north inner city while he was collecting overnight cash from the bar.
However, staff in the pub this week described ‘Clinchy’ as one of ‘Ireland’s dumbest criminals’.
One staff member who did not wish to be identified said: ‘He made a total mess of the whole thing; it was funny on one hand, you know. He put the wrong bullets into the gun – it was like they were falling out... he has been watching too many dramas or else he thought he was still in the show. He wasn’t so tough.’
The employee also revealed how Clinch booked himself into the hotel the night before the robbery and made his way into the pub the following morning, knowing the staff would be cashing up.
He held a gun to staff member Diraj Boodho, a cellar man and another security staff member, Michel Cieslik.
Mr Boodho had told the court the ordeal left him afraid to leave the house, saying: ‘I could have been murdered.’
He said he was carrying two bags of cash takings when two men dressed as builders came into the pub. Clinch pointed a gun at him and pushed him before he called for help.
The staff member said: ‘ Diraj shouted, “Help, help” and around 20 guys came running. They chased him all over the place; he was afraid of his life. There are four parts to this place: the hotel, the night club and two pubs. The guy (Clinch) ran all around the place shouting for help.
‘The men punched him and the police came and when they did he was on his knees crying like a baby; he didn’t expect that. Two men were sitting on his chest holding him for the police. The staff member also criticised Love/Hate writer Stuart Carolan for giving Clinch a character reference in court. ‘That was not on at all… That’s disgusting. He had a loaded
Hotel staff criticised writer Stuart Carolan
gun and someone comes along and gives a statement.’ Clinch, with an address at Millbrook Grove, Kilbarrack, north Dublin, was convicted of robbery and possessing a firearm with the intent to use it.
He has previous convictions, including 17 robbery and 13 burglary offences, dated up to 2004.